The University of Connecticut is discussing ways to augment its approach to on- and off-campus security for student-athletes and athletic department personnel following the arrest of a man on charges he stalked a Huskies women's basketball player online.
As reported by the Connecticut Post, 40-year-old Robert Cole Parmalee, appeared Monday in Superior Court in Rockville to face charges of electronic stalking, second-degree harassment and second-degree breach of peace. His bail was set at $100,000 and a protective order was issued, prohibiting him from contact with UConn redshirt senior guard Paige Bueckers, or from entering Mansfield.
According to UConn police reports cited by Post staff writer Mike Anthony, Parmalee targeted Bueckers, among the most famous athletes in the nation, in social media posts and emails to the school. Police attributed online posts to Parmalee that indicated he had fantasies of being in a relationship with Bueckers and intended to propose marriage, the documents show.
Related: UConn Police Arrest Man for Online Stalking of Women's Basketball Player
In an affidavit, UConn Police Officer Marc Hoffower quoted a TikTok post on a “cole.parmelee” account as saying, that if he “cannot live with the woman of my choosing … then I will choose to die, and I will choose to take all of you that (oppose) me, oppose us, to hell, and return, king.”
Anthony further reports that Parmalee sent numerous emails to UConn's communications staff that "repeatedly referenced" Bueckers and other college basketball players and public figures, according to police reports. He was arrested by state police while walking on Route 20 near Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, according to a UConn police report..
"Given the unsettling nature of the alleged contact, and Bueckers’ fame, there has been a heightened awareness to the balance of promotion and protection for high-profile athletes," Anthony wrote. "UConn’s athletic platform features a couple teams — men’s and women’s basketball — at the high end of the visibility spectrum, and several players on those teams in recent years who are as much public figures as coaches Geno Auriemma and Dan Hurley."
“The security and safety of our people, not just our student-athletes but our coaches, is critical,” athletic director David Benedict said Wednesday, as reported by the Post. “Whether it’s day to day on campus or as our student-athletes are engaging in athletic activity, we’ve got to probably look at and change some things that we do. Certainly on the road, we’re thinking and talking about what, if anything, we need to modify. And education is going to be paramount for people who want to focus on building their brand through social media. There are a lot of things that come with being a high-profile student-athlete and I think security is going to be another one of those hot button issues we’ve got to address.”
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Currently, the UConn women's basketball roster page at uconnhuskies,com offers links to Bueckers' presence on three social media platforms — X (the former Twitter), Instagram and TikTok.
“Social media, where you’re constantly, for some people, putting yourself out there … you can almost track people’s movements on a daily basis as to what they’re doing and where they’re at,” Benedict said. “I do think that probably has a direct impact on some of this. I can’t speak to how that impacts potential issues like we saw recently, but our main focus is on doing everything we can to protect and keep our student-athletes and staff safe when they’re on campus as well as when we’re competing locally, and when we’re on the road.
“I don’t follow every single thing our student-athletes are doing on social media but some of that is meant to get people to follow them. I can’t speak to how that impacts every single person and the way they follow them, but when you put yourself out there and create millions of followers I’m not sure you’re not going to have some of this pop up.”
“It's a new game,” Robert McDonald, a lecturer in the University of New Haven criminal justice department who previously worked in NBA security and for the United States Secret Service, told the Post. “We have to become nimble in how to handle that. (Bueckers) is a college kid. Just like when we used to protect the Bush girls and the Obama girls — now Trump's son is going to NYU — you want to allow them the space they need to be college kids and college athletes and go have a little fun. On the flip side, we need to keep them safe and we need to protect them. UConn, I'm sure, is already figuring out an implementation with their police department to give her the protection she is going to need.
“And we have to remember, they're still kids. Even though they're in an element of professional athleticism with NIL and everything else ... it brings those same problems if you're with the New York Knicks. And, quite frankly, from a national level, she might be more recognizable than somebody who is on the Knicks."
Additional security on campus, like anything else in college athletics, requires spending, Anthony wrote.
“And security doesn't make money, it costs money,” McDonald said. “You go to a game and buy hot dogs and T-shirts and a program, all of that makes money. When a league or a school needs to put together a security platform for players or coaches, that costs money and doesn't make a dime. It's a good investment in your commodity and your player.”
